Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Skagway Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Skagway, Alaska 99840
Thursday, July 3, 1997 17:30 AKD
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The aircraft (acft) was on an air taxi/sightseeing flight (flt), which was an optional tour to a cruise liner trip. After viewing glaciers, flt was returning to land. Approach to airport (arpt) was along inlet shore, which had steep mountains descending to the water & infrequent areas of small beach. About 1,200' above water & 1-1/2 mi from arpt, engine lost power. Acft was ditched about 100' from shore near small cliffs. Passengers (pax) exited 1st into 39 deg water, but none exited with life vests. Plt threw one life vest out & exited as acft sank. With help from her husband, a pax donned the life vest that was thrown out; she partially inflated it using oral inflation tube, although it had CO2 cylinder for rapid inflation. Rescue helicopter arrived in about 10 min. Pax with life vest & plt were rescued; 2 pax drowned; other 2 pax were not found. Surviving pax did not recall briefing about location or use of life vests. Life vests were stored in seat-back pouches, but pouch openings were covered by slip-cover type seat covers. Exam of engine revealed left magneto impulse coupling had failed, stopping rotation of magneto drive gear. Several gear teeth on intermediate idler gear were damaged, disconnecting crankshaft from accessory gear train.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
jamming/failure of the left magneto impulse coupling, which stopped rotation of the magneto gear, and resulted in subsequent shearing of the accessory intermediate idler gear. Factors relating to the accident were: the lack of suitable terrain for a forced landing, which necessitated ditching of the aircraft; the passenger's lack of awareness concerning access to life vests, due to the pilot's inadequate briefing and the seat covers being installed over pouches that held the life vests; insufficient company standards/procedures regarding access to life vests.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/3/1997 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1730 |
| Event Time Zone | -- |
| Event City | SKAGWAY |
| Event State | ALASKA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 99840 |
| Event Date Year | 1997 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | SKAGWAY |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | SGY |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 1 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 219 |
| Airport Elevation | 44 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1653 Atlantic Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 41 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | SGY |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 44 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 1 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | ADT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 5500 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Unknown |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Overcast |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 18 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 11 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 73 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 14 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Unknown |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | 4 |
| Injury Total Minor | 1 |
| Injury Total None | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 5 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1305 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 3 1997 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1808 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 8 2000 12:23PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N15199 |
| NTSB Number | ANC97FA097 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | Company VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Piper |
| Aircraft Model | PA-32 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | PA-32 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 32-7340021 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3400 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 6 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jun 26 1997 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 48 |
| Airframe Hours | 4689 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | HAINES AIRWAYS INC. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | P.O. BOX 470 |
| Aircraft Owner City | HAINES |
| Aircraft Owner State | AK |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 99827 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | |
| Operator City | |
| Operator State | |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | |
| Operator Code | FGHA |
| Owner has at least one certificate | Yes - certificate holder |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | Unknown |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | Non-scheduled |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | Domestic |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | Passenger Only |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Unknown |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | HNS |
| Departure City | HAINES |
| Departure State | AK |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1640 |
| Departure Time Zone | ADT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | SGY |
| Destination City | |
| Destination State | |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Emergency landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 2 2001 10:34AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 0 |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | Yes |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |